Individual differences in the frequency of voluntary &amp; involuntary episodic memories, future thoughts, and counterfactual thoughts

Branch, Jared

doi:10.1007/s00426-023-01802-2

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…This is consistent with the increased frequency of the boredom reduction function, whereby people with elevated GAD symptoms might engage in future thinking with content that is not particularly important or realistic but as a way to keep oneself occupied or maintain some level of self-stimulation in the context of anxious arousal. Involuntary future thoughts were more frequent in the elevated GAD symptoms group, supporting recent research using symptom measures of clinical anxiety in a community sample (Branch 2023) and extending this to a selected elevated GAD symptoms sample. Interestingly, the group with elevated GAD symptoms reported a higher frequency of use of visual imagery (and verbal representations) for future thinking.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Observer perspective in future thinking has indicated that among those high in worry, there is an increased use of observer perspective (i.e., third‐person perspective) relative to first‐person perspective, which is thought to be a method of reducing or avoiding related negative affect (Finnbogadóttir and Berntsen 2011, 2014). Some research has indicated that involuntary future thinking is not more common among those high in worry than those low in worry (Finnbogadóttir and Berntsen 2013), whereas other research in community samples has indicated higher levels of general anxiety symptoms are related to more frequent involuntary, and voluntary, future thoughts (Branch 2023). One study in a sample of people with mixed anxiety disorders did show increased intrusive future thoughts compared to a control group (Morina et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Perceived Functions and Phenomenological Characteristics of Future Thinking and Clinically Significant Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

Hallford,

Seydavi,

Akbari

2024

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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Current research indicates that anxiety disorders and elevated levels of trait anxiety are associated with biases and impairments when thinking of personally relevant future events, that is, future thinking. However, to date, little research has been conducted into how people with symptoms of clinical anxiety perceive the functions of future thinking. The current study presents a cross‐sectional survey comparing individuals with elevated symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and related functional impact (N = 51, 43.1% female, Mage = 33.1, SD = 10.2) matched on age and gender with individuals with no clinically significant symptoms of GAD (N = 51, 43.1% female, Mage = 33.3, SD = 10.1) on self‐reported functions of future thinking and a battery of items assessing the phenomenological characteristics. The results indicated various significant differences in the perceived functions of future thinking and its phenomenological characteristics in those with elevated GAD symptoms. Broadly, they indicate more frequent future thinking and more commonly for self‐distraction or processing negatively valenced future events, and generally less adaptive mental representations that support current thinking on the psychopathological process of increased worry, anxious arousal and maladaptive cognition in clinical anxiety symptoms.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perceived Functions and Phenomenological Characteristics of Future Thinking and Clinically Significant Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

Hallford,

Seydavi,

Akbari

2024

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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“…A few studies have investigated individual differences in cognitive and emotional style and associations with CFT. In one study, CFT were correlated with negative emotionality, boredom proneness, depression, and emotional thinking style (Branch, 2023). In another study, individual differences in cognitive strategies for handling unwanted intrusive thoughts were significantly related to whether a high frequency of CFT persisted over time (El Leithy et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What if…?”: Vividness and frequency of counterfactual thinking in survivors of terrorism

Undset,

Jensen,

Dyb

et al. 2024

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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After traumatic experiences, it is common to think about alternative scenarios or outcomes of the event. This is often referred to as counterfactual thoughts (CFT), and CFT after trauma have been associated with posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR). In this study, we aimed to: (1) investigate the relationship between the vividness and frequency of CFT and PTSR, and to (2) examine the associations between exposure, peri‐traumatic reactions, physical injury and the loss of someone close, and the subsequent vividness and frequency of CFT. The participants (N = 289) were survivors of a terror attack in Norway. More vivid and frequent CFT were significantly and independently related to more PTSR. Exposure during trauma was significantly associated with more vivid CFT in the unadjusted regression model. No further significant relationships were found between exposure, peri‐traumatic reactions, physical injury and the loss of someone close, and the vividness and frequency of CFT. As CFT are common after trauma and potentially cause distress, clinicians should identify and validate CFT, and provide coping assistance.

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“…In this context, boredom proneness may be a particularly promising avenue. Participants frequently list boredom as an antecedent to IAMs 46 , and boredom proneness has been positively correlated with IAM frequency in daily life 47 . Additionally, a hallmark feature of boredom proneness is spontaneous mind wandering 13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories

Yeung,

Danckert,

van Tilburg

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) are memories retrieved unintentionally and repetitively. We examined whether the phenomenology and content of recurrent IAMs could differentiate boredom and depression, both of which are characterized by affective dysregulation and spontaneous thought. Participants (n = 2484) described their most frequent IAM and rated its phenomenological properties (e.g., valence). Structural topic modeling, a method of unsupervised machine learning, identified coherent content within the described memories. Boredom proneness was positively correlated with depressive symptoms, and both boredom proneness and depressive symptoms were correlated with more negative recurrent IAMs. Boredom proneness predicted less vivid recurrent IAMs, whereas depressive symptoms predicted more vivid, negative, and emotionally intense ones. Memory content also diverged: topics such as relationship conflicts were positively predicted by depressive symptoms, but negatively predicted by boredom proneness. Phenomenology and content in recurrent IAMs can effectively disambiguate boredom proneness from depressive symptoms in a large sample of undergraduate students from a racially diverse university.

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Individual differences in the frequency of voluntary & involuntary episodic memories, future thoughts, and counterfactual thoughts

Cited by 10 publications

References 84 publications

The Perceived Functions and Phenomenological Characteristics of Future Thinking and Clinically Significant Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

The Perceived Functions and Phenomenological Characteristics of Future Thinking and Clinically Significant Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

“What if…?”: Vividness and frequency of counterfactual thinking in survivors of terrorism

Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories

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